Draft gear for railway cars



Jung 2, 1925.

w. J. REGAN DRAFT GEAR FOR RAILWAY CARS Filed May 9, 1923 gnventom Patented June 2, 192.5.

WILLIAIVI J. REGAN, OE PITTSBURGH. TEENNSYLVANI 6c TORLEY COMPANY, OF 'PITTSBURGH, BELIEFS PENNSYLVANIA assrenon TO THE MCCONWAY rttvauia, a oonrona'rron or DRAFT GEAR FOR BAILWAY CARS.

Application filed May 9,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, VVTLIJAM J. REGAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Draft Gears for Railway Cars; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled. in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to draft gear for railway cars and has for its object to provide a combined draft gear casing and yoke which is simple, strong and easily manufactured and which may be readily assembled with the parts with which it is operatively associated.

The principal feature of the invention, generally stated, consists in providing a uni tary member involving a casing adapted to receive and cooperate with friction elements housed thereby, spaced arms between which the rear end of the car coupler is adapted to be received being integrally united to said casing and extending forwardly therefrom, and the said arms being integrally united in advance of the casing by spaced walls provided with oppositely disposed open ended slots adapted to receive a coupler connect ing key.

There are other features of the invention residing in special combinations of parts and particular details of construction which will hereinafter appear.

In the drawings chosen for the purpose of illustrating the invention, the scope whereof is pointed out in the claims,

Figure 1 is a plan view of a draft gear embodying the invention, the stationary parts of the car with which it is associated being illustrated in dotted lines.

Figure 2 is a view, partly in side elevation and partly in vertical section, of the construction illustrated in Fig. 1.

In the drawings, 1 indicates the stem of a car coupler whose rear end or butt is provided with the usual horizontally extending key slot 2. The rear end of the coupler normally bears against a follower 3 which is adapted to be forced rearwardly when the coupler is subjected to a bufiing shock. In the construction shown in the drawings the follower 3 is illustrated as cooperating 1923. Serial No. 637,806.

with forward follower stop castings or draft lugs 4 riveted to the center sills or draft sills 5 of the car in advance of said follower in. a well known manner.

The unitary casting forming the combined draft gear casing and yoke comprises a hollow casing 6 which preferably is closed at its rear end and there bears against suitable means, such as the stop castings 7 carried by the car sills, for limiting rearward movement of the casting. The casing may be made in any size or form to receive and cooperate with. springs and friction elements housed thereby, the draft gear members that are arranged within the casing and are operatively interposed between the follower 3 and the said casing being diagrammaticah ly indicated by the diagonal dotted lines 8 in a conventional manner.

Extending forwardly from the casing 6 and integrally united thereto are a pair of spaced arms 9 adapted to receive the butt of the car coupler 1 and the follower 3 between them. The arms 9 are of greater width toward their forward ends than at points adjacent the casing 6, thus providing for the cooperation of the follower with the draft lugs t and also permitting the draft gear after it has been assembled to be readily associated with the. car, as well as enabling the opening at the forward end of the combineddraft gear casing and yoke to be made of ample size to permit the introduction.therethrough, if desired, of parts housed within the casing 6. The arms 9 are integrally connected at their forward ends by spaced side walls 10 whose rear edges terminate in advance of the forward end of the casing 6 so as to alford space or openings for receiving the longitudinally mov able follower 3.

The walls 10 are formed with oppositely disposed longitudinally extending slots 11 adapted to receive a key 12 which passes through the slot- 2 at the rear end of the coupler and through suitable slots 13 in the draft lugs t and car sills 5, the latter slots being suitably elongated to permit the key 12 to travel back and forth therein during draft and buffing movements of the coupler. The key receiving slots 11 of the side walls 10 are open at their rear ends so as to communicate with the openings in the sides of the casting through which the ends of the follower 3 project, and the rear edges of said side walls, which are prefer-ably of arcuate form, terminate in advance of the rear edge of the key 12; By this means the openings through the sides of the combined draft gear casing and yoke in advance of the casing portion 6 thereof are enabled to be made sufliciently large to permit the ready introduction of draft gear parts to be assembled within the casing, and a comparatively long casing portion 6 may be provided.

The slotted walls 10 as well as the forwardly extending arms 9 may advantageously be integrally united by transversely extending inc-lined webs let which converge forwardly toward the outer ends of the slots 11 and preferably terminate closely adjacent the stem of the coupler 1. These webs, it will be perceived, serve to limit any possible vertical twisting of the coupler when the key 12 is forced rearwardly in the slots 11 during a buffing movement.

I claim 1. A draft gear involving a casing adapted to receive and cooperate with friction elements housed thereby, spaced arms int-egrally united to said casing and extending forwardly therefrom, said arms being adapted to receive between them the butt of a car coupler and also a follower adapted to be moved rearwardly by said coupler, and

spaced walls integrally uniting said arms in advance of said casing, said walls being provided with oppositely disposed slots which are open at their rear ends and are adapted to receive a coupler connecting key.

2. A draft gear involving an integral hollow casting having an opening at its forward end adapted to receive the butt of a car coupler, and provided at its rear end with a casing adapted toreceive and cooperate with friction elements housed thereby, and having in advance of said casing lateral openings for receiving a follower adapted to be moved rearwardly by said coupler, and also being provided with oppositely disposed slots adapted to receive a coupler connecting key, said slots at their rear ends opening into the respectively adjacent lateral openings for receiving said follower.

3. A draft gear involving a, casing adapted to receive and cooperate with friction elements housed thereby, spaced arms integrally united to said casing and extending forwardly therefrom, said arms being adapted to receive between them the butt of a car coupler and also a follower adapted to be moved rearwardly by said coupler, and spaced walls integrally uniting said arms in advance of said casing, said casing, arms and walls defining a space adapted to receive a follower, and said walls being provided with open ended slots which communicate at their rear ends with said follower space.

' 4. A draft gear involving a casing adapted to receive and cooperate with friction elements housed thereby, spaced arms integrally united to said casing and extending forwardly therefrom, said arms being of greater width toward their forward ends than at points adjacent said casing, and oppositely disposed walls integrally connecting said arms at their forward ends and terminating in advance of said casing to afford openings for receiving a follower, said wallsbeing provided with oppositely disposed slots which are open at their rear ends and are adapted to receive a key for forming a connection with a car coupler.

5. A draft gear involving a casing adapted to receive and cooperate with friction elements housed thereby, spaced arms integrally united to said casing and extending forwardly therefrom and adapted to receive the butt of a car coupler between them, spaced walls integrally uniting said arms in advance of said casing, said walls being provided with oppositely disposed open ended key slots adapted to receive a coupler connecting key, a follower passing between said arms and operating in the space between said walls and the forward end of said casing, and transversely e. :tcnding inclined webs converging forwardly to ward said slots and integrally uniting said arms and said walls, said webs being adapted to stand closely adjacent the stem of a coupler to provide means for limiting vertical twisting of the latter.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

WILLIAM J. REGAN. 

